Woman whose mom diagnosed with breast cancer at 84 walking for a cure

Thursday

Sep 24, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 24, 2009 at 7:57 PM

Genevieve Mooers never expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 84. A retired nurse, she got annual mammograms, never smoked, didn't drink. She bowled and exercised more than some people in their twenties. But in late 2006, she learned that an odd, distorted area that showed up in her exams for the last three years had developed into cancer.

David Riley

Genevieve Mooers never expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 84. A retired nurse, she got annual mammograms, never smoked, didn't drink. She bowled and exercised more than some people in their twenties. But in late 2006, she learned that an odd, distorted area that showed up in her exams for the last three years had developed into cancer.

“I take care of myself so well,” Mooers said. “It just threw me for a loop. ... I didn't carry on or make a big scene about it, but inwardly, I was just shocked.”

Mooers' daughter Marcia Hill of Ashland is joining the Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in hopes of sparing other women from her mom's battle.

“One of the reasons I'm walking is I don't want to see my stepdaughters or my granddaughter go through what my mother has had to go through,” Hill said. “I want to see the money go for research and for finding a cure.”

Mooers moved from her home in New Jersey to stay with Hill in Ashland for six months while she underwent treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

“My initial reaction was for her, and to say to her, ‘We will beat this,’” Hill said.

After a lumpectomy, Mooers had a mastectomy in January 2007 at the age of 85, followed by six weeks of “very painful” radiation therapy five days a week. Nonetheless, she tried to stay active.

“When you dwell on something, it's worse,” Mooers said. “I think the more motivated you are and have a better outlook in life, it helps your whole health, all the way around.”

Mooers had plenty of praise for Dana-Farber.

“They were so conscientious, every one of their workers - the X-ray department, the oncologist down to the helpers,” she said.

Today, Mooers is feeling fine and living independently again.

“I want to be in my own home,” she said. “I want to look at my hummingbird feeder and my flowers. This is what keeps me going.”

Hill said her mother's doctors say there is a 40 percent chance her cancer will recur elsewhere in her body. But thanks to medicine that suppresses her body's production of estrogen, it seems to be in check.

Forty percent is a daunting number, Hill said, but she called her mother “a survivor.”

This is Hill's third year in the Making Strides walk. She raised $1,400 for research her first year and $2,600 last year. She said she has cast a wider net in seeking donations because of the lagging economy. Hill's husband, Michael, a Framingham police officer, walks with her.

“We get out there very early and are just amazed by how many other people are out there,” she said. “It's like a sea of pink along (Commonwealth Avenue) at one point by (Boston University). It's overwhelmingly moving.”

Mooers hopes to see breakthroughs in breast cancer research soon.

“I'm a fighter, and that's what we have to do,” Mooers said. “We have to fight this thing.”

To see Hill's fundraising Web page, visit makingstrides.acsevents.org, click on Massachusetts, click on the Boston event and choose “Find a Walker.”